Hi, my name is An Eminem Fan (currently on PS), and I have laddered for almost 2.5 years in 1v1. This has helped me to form a decent understanding of the tier and from my experience, I have managed to build a solid team which is competent both for ladder and tournaments and is currently a sample team for 1v1 (though I have improved upon the sample team I submitted for a previous meta), so let's get straight into it...
Teammate 1:
Power Construct Zygarde-50%
Zygarde has established itself as one of the best setup Pokemon, boasting high defences and good setup move in Coil. Since a regular Zygarde set in 1v1 usually had Coil / Thousand Arrows / Substitute / Extreme Speed, anti-setup Pokemon like Taunt Will-o-wisp Kee Berry Mew and Taunt Stall Deoxys-Speed hard countered this setup, and so this particular Zygarde set aims at using this to its advantage by using the combination of Bulldoze and Rest to do away with Will-o-wisp burn damage as well as to speed creep these Pokemon and successfully setup on them..
[Moves]
- Bulldoze, as mentioned earlier, is used to reduce the speed of opposing faster anti-setup Pokemon like Taunt Mew, and Taunt Deoxys-Speed. It can also be used to deal low damage to Counter and Metal Burst users like Donphan, Sawk, Crustle, and proceed to either set up and OHKO or straight up OHKO with your Z-Move.
- Thousand Arrows does what Thousand Arrows does always - makes for a good STAB move, and removes Flying-type and Air Balloon immunities from Pokemon like Landorus-T, Heatran, and Celesteela. With Groundium Z, Thousand Arrows becomes a super powerful 180- BP Z-Move, which can kill Metagross-M, Mega Charizard X, Donphan after some prior damage, amongst most others.
- Coil helps it set up on Pokemon like Mega Charizard X, Donphan, and Crustle. This, in conjunction with its bulk, also helps it to live a second Outrage from 252 Mega Charizard X and Mega Metagross' Ice Punch after tanking the first hit successfully from them, and in turn OHKO them with your Z-Move.
- Rest helps in stalling other stall and bulky status-dependant Pokemon like Pyukumuku, Mega Venusaur, and Chansey. It also helps recover health, which is essential after taking damage from physical Z-Move Pokemon like Donphan, Crustle, and Landorus-T.
[EVs]
- The 252 HP, in conjunction with 128 Def EVs, and Impish nature, helps Zygarde tank some powerful super effective physical attacks like Ice Punch from Tough Claws Mega Metagross and 252 Attack Mega Charizard X Outrage, setup on them, and proceed to kill them.
- The 128 Attack EVs are used to get the best rolls to kill the most commonly used Magearna set which runs 252 HP / 20 SpA / 20 SpD / 216 Speed with Bold nature.
Moving on to the second teammate...
Teammate 2:
Super bulky Magearna:
You need a solid Protean Greninja, Mega Slowbro, and Mega Gyarados counter to support Zygarde, since Greninja can KO Zygarde with STAB Ice Beam, Mega Slowbro can effectively stall Zygarde out with Iron Defense without getting hit by a crit, and Mega Gyarados usually runs Taunt to effectively prevent Zygarde-50 from setting Coil. Magearna fits the role almost perfectly. This particular Magearna is used to bait Greninja, set up while Greninja's attacking, and KO it with its boosted STAB ZMove.
[Moves]
- Calm Mind is used to boost Magearna's Special Attack, which is very useful for KOing some bulky walls like Chansey, Mega Slowbro and Togekiss. It also raises Special Defense, which is very useful for tanking many consecutive special attacks like Primarina, Porygon-Z and Tapu Lele.
- Iron Defense is useful for setting up on physical attackers like Mega Gyarados, physical Dragonite, and Mega Tyranitar.
- Pain Split, in conjunction with Calm Mind and/or Iron Defense, helps in bringing down opposing Pokemon which remain healthy during the time you set up, for you to finish them off with your STAB Z-Move. This also helps when you are up against Pokemon which can recover its health like Chansey.
- Fleur Cannon is the very powerful Magearna STAB move, which is even more powered up with Fairium Z to beat Pokemon like Mega Venusaur after boosting.
[EVs]
- 252 HP EVs along with 216 Special Defense EVs help Magearna tank a Timid Choice Specs Greninja HP Fire and then another after a Calm Mind.
- 0 Special Attack EVs, with a Modest nature, helps Magearna to KO Protean Hidden Power Fire Greninja after a Calm Mind.
- The remaining EVs are invested into Defense, giving Magearna the best chance of tanking Earthquake Gyarados, and then Mega Gyarados Earthquake after an Iron Defense, and tanking an Earthquake from Choice Scarf Garchomp.
At this point, this core is strong but slow, and is quite notably susceptible to some Fairy-type Pokemon like Taunt Guardian Of Alola Tapu Fini, and fast speed traps like Jumpluff, Whimsicott, Smeargle, Modest Choice Specs Greninja, and Choice Specs / special Choice Scarf Genesect, so moving on to the third teammate...
Teammate 3:
Semi-bulky Naganadel
Naganadel is usually run with a Choice Specs, which turns it into a high damage output Special attacker. I figured this is the sort-of weak link in this team, and so, if any better fast teammate could be suggested it its lieu, that would be appreciated..
[Moves]
- Draco Meteor is used to KO non-Choice Scarf slower Dragon-type Pokemon like Haxorus, Garchomp, and Zygarde. It is also Naganadel's highest base power move, which helps it in KOing some neutral targets like non-Choice Scarf Landorus-T.
- Sludge Wave is used to KO Fairy-type Pokemon which are unaffected by Dragon-type moves, primarily the legal Guardian Deities and Primarina.
- Fire Blast helps it in KOing some Steel-type Pokemon like Genesect, Kartana, Durant and Ferrothorn.
- Hidden Power Rock is very useful for baiting the specially defensive Mega Charizard which can tank Draco Meteor in its pre-Mega forme.
[EVs]
- 100 Special Defense EVs let it live a Sun boosted Blast Burn from 252 Timid Mega Charizard Y. This also lets it live Choice Scarf Genesect's Ice Beam, since Naganadel makes Genesect download Attack.
- 216 Speed EVs along with a Timid nature helps Naganadel outspeed max speed Whimsicott; this also outspeeds Jumpluff.
- The remaining EVs are dumped into Special Attack, and Choice Specs takes its SpA to a very high levels, which helps it beat various Pokemon with its moves.
The Complete Team: https://pokepast.es/fa5eb101627c1408
Any input on bettering this team would be appreciated, thank you! (Shoutout LSF)
Teammate 1:
Power Construct Zygarde-50%
Zygarde @ Groundium Z
Ability: Power Construct
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Atk / 128 Def
Impish Nature
- Bulldoze
- Thousand Arrows
- Coil
- Rest
Ability: Power Construct
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Atk / 128 Def
Impish Nature
- Bulldoze
- Thousand Arrows
- Coil
- Rest
Zygarde has established itself as one of the best setup Pokemon, boasting high defences and good setup move in Coil. Since a regular Zygarde set in 1v1 usually had Coil / Thousand Arrows / Substitute / Extreme Speed, anti-setup Pokemon like Taunt Will-o-wisp Kee Berry Mew and Taunt Stall Deoxys-Speed hard countered this setup, and so this particular Zygarde set aims at using this to its advantage by using the combination of Bulldoze and Rest to do away with Will-o-wisp burn damage as well as to speed creep these Pokemon and successfully setup on them..
[Moves]
- Bulldoze, as mentioned earlier, is used to reduce the speed of opposing faster anti-setup Pokemon like Taunt Mew, and Taunt Deoxys-Speed. It can also be used to deal low damage to Counter and Metal Burst users like Donphan, Sawk, Crustle, and proceed to either set up and OHKO or straight up OHKO with your Z-Move.
- Thousand Arrows does what Thousand Arrows does always - makes for a good STAB move, and removes Flying-type and Air Balloon immunities from Pokemon like Landorus-T, Heatran, and Celesteela. With Groundium Z, Thousand Arrows becomes a super powerful 180- BP Z-Move, which can kill Metagross-M, Mega Charizard X, Donphan after some prior damage, amongst most others.
- Coil helps it set up on Pokemon like Mega Charizard X, Donphan, and Crustle. This, in conjunction with its bulk, also helps it to live a second Outrage from 252 Mega Charizard X and Mega Metagross' Ice Punch after tanking the first hit successfully from them, and in turn OHKO them with your Z-Move.
- Rest helps in stalling other stall and bulky status-dependant Pokemon like Pyukumuku, Mega Venusaur, and Chansey. It also helps recover health, which is essential after taking damage from physical Z-Move Pokemon like Donphan, Crustle, and Landorus-T.
[EVs]
- The 252 HP, in conjunction with 128 Def EVs, and Impish nature, helps Zygarde tank some powerful super effective physical attacks like Ice Punch from Tough Claws Mega Metagross and 252 Attack Mega Charizard X Outrage, setup on them, and proceed to kill them.
- The 128 Attack EVs are used to get the best rolls to kill the most commonly used Magearna set which runs 252 HP / 20 SpA / 20 SpD / 216 Speed with Bold nature.
Moving on to the second teammate...
Teammate 2:
Super bulky Magearna:
Magearna @ Fairium Z
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 216 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Iron Defense
- Pain Split
- Fleur Cannon
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 216 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Iron Defense
- Pain Split
- Fleur Cannon
You need a solid Protean Greninja, Mega Slowbro, and Mega Gyarados counter to support Zygarde, since Greninja can KO Zygarde with STAB Ice Beam, Mega Slowbro can effectively stall Zygarde out with Iron Defense without getting hit by a crit, and Mega Gyarados usually runs Taunt to effectively prevent Zygarde-50 from setting Coil. Magearna fits the role almost perfectly. This particular Magearna is used to bait Greninja, set up while Greninja's attacking, and KO it with its boosted STAB ZMove.
[Moves]
- Calm Mind is used to boost Magearna's Special Attack, which is very useful for KOing some bulky walls like Chansey, Mega Slowbro and Togekiss. It also raises Special Defense, which is very useful for tanking many consecutive special attacks like Primarina, Porygon-Z and Tapu Lele.
- Iron Defense is useful for setting up on physical attackers like Mega Gyarados, physical Dragonite, and Mega Tyranitar.
- Pain Split, in conjunction with Calm Mind and/or Iron Defense, helps in bringing down opposing Pokemon which remain healthy during the time you set up, for you to finish them off with your STAB Z-Move. This also helps when you are up against Pokemon which can recover its health like Chansey.
- Fleur Cannon is the very powerful Magearna STAB move, which is even more powered up with Fairium Z to beat Pokemon like Mega Venusaur after boosting.
[EVs]
- 252 HP EVs along with 216 Special Defense EVs help Magearna tank a Timid Choice Specs Greninja HP Fire and then another after a Calm Mind.
- 0 Special Attack EVs, with a Modest nature, helps Magearna to KO Protean Hidden Power Fire Greninja after a Calm Mind.
- The remaining EVs are invested into Defense, giving Magearna the best chance of tanking Earthquake Gyarados, and then Mega Gyarados Earthquake after an Iron Defense, and tanking an Earthquake from Choice Scarf Garchomp.
At this point, this core is strong but slow, and is quite notably susceptible to some Fairy-type Pokemon like Taunt Guardian Of Alola Tapu Fini, and fast speed traps like Jumpluff, Whimsicott, Smeargle, Modest Choice Specs Greninja, and Choice Specs / special Choice Scarf Genesect, so moving on to the third teammate...
Teammate 3:
Semi-bulky Naganadel
Naganadel @ Choice Specs
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 192 SpA / 100 SpD / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Sludge Wave
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power Rock
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 192 SpA / 100 SpD / 216 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Sludge Wave
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power Rock
Naganadel is usually run with a Choice Specs, which turns it into a high damage output Special attacker. I figured this is the sort-of weak link in this team, and so, if any better fast teammate could be suggested it its lieu, that would be appreciated..
[Moves]
- Draco Meteor is used to KO non-Choice Scarf slower Dragon-type Pokemon like Haxorus, Garchomp, and Zygarde. It is also Naganadel's highest base power move, which helps it in KOing some neutral targets like non-Choice Scarf Landorus-T.
- Sludge Wave is used to KO Fairy-type Pokemon which are unaffected by Dragon-type moves, primarily the legal Guardian Deities and Primarina.
- Fire Blast helps it in KOing some Steel-type Pokemon like Genesect, Kartana, Durant and Ferrothorn.
- Hidden Power Rock is very useful for baiting the specially defensive Mega Charizard which can tank Draco Meteor in its pre-Mega forme.
[EVs]
- 100 Special Defense EVs let it live a Sun boosted Blast Burn from 252 Timid Mega Charizard Y. This also lets it live Choice Scarf Genesect's Ice Beam, since Naganadel makes Genesect download Attack.
- 216 Speed EVs along with a Timid nature helps Naganadel outspeed max speed Whimsicott; this also outspeeds Jumpluff.
- The remaining EVs are dumped into Special Attack, and Choice Specs takes its SpA to a very high levels, which helps it beat various Pokemon with its moves.
The Complete Team: https://pokepast.es/fa5eb101627c1408
1) Biggest threat to this team is specially defensive Swords Dance / Belly Drum Mega Charizard X
2) Confide users like Type:Null and Chansey.
3) Mixed Yawn Mega Swampert
4) Laser Focus Special Attackers like Meloetta.
2) Confide users like Type:Null and Chansey.
3) Mixed Yawn Mega Swampert
4) Laser Focus Special Attackers like Meloetta.
Any input on bettering this team would be appreciated, thank you! (Shoutout LSF)
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